


The Morning After

by jooliewrites



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 02:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2530691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jooliewrites/pseuds/jooliewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The morning after a one-night stand was something that Connor Walsh normally avoided. They were awkward and painful. So why can't he just leave?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Morning After

**Author's Note:**

> So [wordsputtopaper](http://wordsputtopaper.tumblr.com) and I were talking on Tumblr and it was suggested that "Someone should write us a “Five times Oliver slammed the door in Connor’s face” fic." [x](http://wordsputtopaper.tumblr.com/post/101217003272)
> 
> I make no promises that to write all five but this was the first time anyway.

This is why you never spend the night you dumb shit. Connor swore to himself as he stumbled over Oliver’s end table, reaching down to grab his jacket. He was creeping around Oliver’s apartment in the dark of the early morning, like a thief, trying to quietly and quickly make himself presentable so he could sneak out of a very successful one-night stand undetected.

The morning after was always awkward. No matter how nonchalant both parties acted it was awkward. Plain and simple. Promises to call were always made and never kept. If you were lucky a kiss or two were exchanged that always either seemed too chaste considering the actions of the night before or too lewd considering the hour of the day. And you always left feeling slightly dirty in a way that had nothing to do with taking the bus home in last night’s shirt and smelling a little like a stranger’s cologne.

All in all the entire ritual was an annoyance that was better off avoided, which was his usual course of action. But last night hadn’t gone according to plan. Nothing about Oliver was going according to plan.

Connor woke in the middle of the night with his face all but buried in Oliver’s hair to find that he and Oliver were more wrapped up in each other than they had been when they had nodded off in the post-sex afterglow. Now, they were facing each other with their chests flush. One of Oliver’s hands was between them with his palm resting on Connor’s chest, suspiciously near his heart, and his other arm was shoved under Connor’s side at an angle that had to be cutting off circulation to his hand. Oliver was using one of Connor’s arms as a pillow and Connor’s other arm was around Oliver’s hip with a hand on the small of his back. Their legs were entwined with one of Oliver’s thrown over Connor’s hip, pulling him in. Cuddling had always been odd for Connor. He had never really understood the point of simply holding someone with sex not being the endgame but this was nice and warm and comfortable. He wanted to bury in deeper. Pull Oliver even closer. Cling to someone for just once in his life and see where the pair of them ended up.

He was about to do just that when the rational part of his mind shook him out of his first ever cuddle-glow and Connor slowly pulled himself away. He needed to get out of here. He didn’t do this and he certainly didn’t do mornings after. He needed to get out, get his stuff, leave a note (if he remembered to) and get back to his apartment. When Oliver made a quiet noise of distress, Connor shushed him with a murmur that he would be back and a kiss to his forehead.

Cuddling and kissing foreheads? What was the matter with him tonight?

Connor stopped at the bathroom first to take a leak before collecting his things to head out. Finished, he went leave and was brought up short by the soap dispenser. It was R2-D2. He hadn’t noticed it in his first trip to the bathroom to dispose of the condom and grab a washcloth for Oliver but now he picked it up to inspect his as best he could in the moonlight coming through the small window above the shower. The nerd with the glasses and the really hot smile and hands that made Connor shiver with anticipation whenever he looked at them had an R2-D2 soap dispenser. Why was that so damn cute?

He walked out and instead of heading into the living room to follow his usual M. O. of grabbing his stuff and ducking out, he headed back to the bedroom to wrap himself back up in Oliver.

“Figured you were leaving,” Oliver said, his voice horse from sleep.

“Yeah, well. You have an R2-D2 soap dispenser.”

“So?” Oliver picked his head up at that and squinted to glare at Connor as best he could in the dim light and without his glasses. “I work in IT. I’m a bit of a nerd,” he said by way of explanation.

“Yeah,” Connor said as he snuggled in deeper. This cuddling thing was nice. “A nerd with an R2-D2 soap dispenser.”

“It was a present,” Oliver replied and dropped his head back down onto Connor’s arm. He closed his eyes to go back to sleep and Connor wondered why Oliver using him as a pillow like this wasn’t uncomfortable. Shouldn’t having another person’s head all but tucked into the curve of his shoulder be weird?

“I like it.” Connor smiled and pressed another kiss against Oliver’s forehead before falling asleep.

And then, because he was a dumb shit, he hadn’t woken up until he heard the neighbor’s alarm through the wall. Connor cursed himself for the thousandth time that morning as he shrugged on the jacket. It didn’t matter that he had a ‘moment’ at two in the morning over Star Wars memorabilia and cuddling and kissing foreheads. He didn’t spend the night. No exceptions. No moments. No excuses.

He padded the pockets and surveyed the room again. His phone and wallet were still in the jacket but where were his keys? Connor spotted them by the door and walked over. Stumbling yet again over that same, damn table (was it moving?), he picked up the keys and quickly tucked in his shirt in. He buttoned his pants and, as a habit, reached for his belt but it wasn’t there. He did another quick turn around the room not seeing it. He was considering just writing the belt off as a loss when Oliver’s voice interrupted his train of thought.

“Looking for this.” Oliver was casually leaning one shoulder against the bedroom doorframe holding Connor’s belt in his hand. He had thrown on gray pajama pants and had one ankle crossed over the other. He looked so smug and collected as he smirked at Connor stumbling around his apartment in the dark that Connor had the sudden urge to jump him. Or maybe punch him. Really anything to wipe that smirk off his face.

“Yeah,” Connor said wearily as he pulled himself up to stand tall as Oliver walked over. So much for sneaking out without having to have The Conversation. “Thanks.”

Oliver gave half a laugh at that while Connor slipped his belt through the loops. “Isn’t it _I_ who should be thanking _you_?”

Connor looked up at that. Did Oliver really just say that? Did the man who had all but blushed when Connor approached him last night really just make a sexual innuendo? Really? And he, Connor, was really not saying anything in response? No retort was coming to mind. No quick exchange. Nothing. He was just standing there, holding his belt, with a dumbstruck expression on his face while Oliver smirked at him. When had their situations been reversed? Why was he flustered and Oliver confident?

Connor responded with a noncommittal noise and went back to his belt. He adjusted his sleeves and smoothed down the front of his shirt, taking small comfort in the ritual of making himself somewhat presentable at least before looking back at Oliver. The Conversation never went well. “Listen,” he started.

“It’s fine.” Oliver waved him off with a shrug. “I get it. You’ve got class. And court. And work. And studying. And...whatever.” He started walking to the door and Connor followed. “I get it.”

“Really?” Connor questioned. This was amazing. He was going to get out of here without having to go through one of the most uncomfortable conversations known to man. This was turning out to be the best one-night stand ever!

“Really,” Oliver replied. “Believe it or not, this is not my first morning after.” He smiled at that, attempting to infuse some levity into the words but Connor saw the old pain in his eyes that spoke volumes. No, this was not Oliver’s first morning after and Connor felt like the biggest asshole in the world. “Look, you got those emails? I didn’t illegally hand over information and risk my job for you to just forget them and let an innocent woman go to jail.”

“Nope.” Connor opened his jacked and tugged on the emails, folded and tucked in the inside pocket. “Got ‘em right here.”

“Good.” They shared a smile at that and their eyes met for a moment. Connor opened his mouth to say Lord knows what before he quickly shut it and looked away. They were both silent for a moment longer and Connor could feel the awkward space between them. Oliver had all but given him the green light to leave with no obligation to call again but Connor hesitated. Should he open the door? Was that rude? Was it more polite to wait for Oliver to open the door? Was there really an etiquette for how to properly leave the apartment of the guy you had mind-blowing sex with last night? He wondered what Emily Post would have to say about this.

“You want any coffee or…?” Oliver gestured in the general direction of his kitchen as he let his question trail off.

“No. No thanks. I’m good.” Connor rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Okay.”

They stood in Oliver’s doorway for another moment, avoiding each other gazes. Connor had a flash to being a teenager all over again attempting to figure out his next move in the forever-confusing world of relationships. But then again, he had never been this awkward at a teenager. Nothing had ever been this awkward before. Why was this so uncomfortable? What was the matter with him? With every other one-night stand, he would have been out the door half an hour ago and waiting in line at the closest Starbucks by this point. Actually, that wasn’t entirely accurate. With every other one-night stand, he would have made his escape in the middle of the night and be waking up in his own bed right now. Why was this not going according to plan? Why was nothing about Oliver going according to plan?

“Okay,” Oliver said again, this time with purpose as he reached to open the door. Connor automatically stepped back so Oliver could swing the door wide and then stepped out into the hall. “This was great. It was—“

“I’ll call you.” Connor cut him off. Where had that come from?

“Really?” Oliver laughed and cocked one hip against the open doorframe, crossing one ankle over the other again. He tilted his head to the side, disbelief oozing out of the casual pose. “You’re going to call?”

“Yeah.” The nerd didn’t need to look so shocked. Connor may not have been really planning on calling until two seconds ago but Oliver didn’t need to look so surprised at the idea that maybe Connor wanted the two of them to have amazing sex again sometime in the near future. Oliver had been there. He had experienced how mind-blowing it had been. Why wouldn’t either of them want to do that again? “I’ll call you.”

“Okay.” Oliver gave him a long look that left Connor with the feeling that he had been weighted and measured and found wanting. Oliver shrugged again and stood up, stepping aside so he could close the door. “You’ll call.”

“I will.” Connor didn’t like the skepticism in Oliver’s tone. He said he was going to call so he was going to call. It didn’t matter that he had made that promise to others before and never followed through. He meant it this time.

“Sure, Connor.” Oliver gave him one last, slightly condescending smile and raised his hand in a small wave. “Have a good one.”

And then the door to apartment 303 was shut in his face.

“I will,” he called through the door one last time and he could swear he heard Oliver chuckle as he walked away.

Connor went down the hall and took the stairs down to the ground floor. He shoved open the main door to the building with more force that was strictly necessary and quickly walked down the street to his car parked in a lot around the corner.

He was going to call. He was going to show that nerd with his smug grin and hot laugh and freaking Star Wars memorabilia. He was going to call. Connor took out his phone as he unlocked his car and swiped through the contacts until he found Oliver’s.

He was going to call right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. xoxo
> 
> [tumblr](http://ramblesandreblogs.tumblr.com/)


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